The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-06-08
THE SAMOANS.
an Interesting sketch Of the People
and The5r Everyday Life.


the quarterback as we hove to, and re-
/mained gamboling in the sea, slapping
each other on the back, drenching each
other with water, crying for money and
offering shells. berries and fruit for sale
until the moment OF our departure. For
lack of a better term these gentle people
must be called "savages, " and it is point
in favor of the route home via Frisco that
this is almost the only place on mail
steamer track where human beings may
still be seen in childlike state of naked
simplicity 1t Is true that some strange
races are seen at Alden, at Port Said, off
the Javan coast, at Colombo or at Batavia.
But none OF them are in any sense savage
in their customs, but make as keen a bar
gain as any of their white visitors. The
Samoan Islanders. on the contrary, scarcely
know the difference Between a shilling and
q dollar. Their climate yields them the
necessaries OF life without IabOrious cult
walton, and they are as unconcernedly
happy as the daENis long. So far as /
could see, they are far from keeping up
with the times in the matter Of clothing.
Indeed, the half-hundred who padded
OF the articles of attire which their an
cestors wore when Captain Cook saw them
a century ago. In those days the men
wore a marc, a covering for the l0ins and
waist made of tappa, or cloth Of bark, and
the kihei, or mantle, about feet square.
This last is tiled in knot over one shout
der, passed under the opposite arm, so as
TO leave it bare, and falling in graceful
folds before and behind to the knee, so as
to bear some resemblance to a Roman
tOga" The female dress consisted of the
pau, a petticoat of tappa reaching to the
knees, and the kihei or mantle aforesaid
As this was the national costume ef a cen
fury back, my lady readers Will easily i'm
agine how the fashions have changed
with the hundred seasons and their
accompanying trains of new spring cloth
ing brought by sailing ship or steamer.
The changes have been only short of revolu
tionary. To-day the men wear the marc
round the waist without the mantle, and
the women wear the pau, or petticOat,
without the mantle. These natives are de-
termined not TO go ahead too fast
in the way of Paris fashions, even if
Yankee mail steamers do bring them the
European newspapers once month. a
great discussion arose on board as TO
whether the protection of clothing was
really necessary to the well-being of the
European races, or whether, in the pursuit
of comfort, civilization has in effect de-
stroyed the power of resistance to the
weather which Nature had intended for
our heritage-a kind of property in mot
wanting of which the most adverse for
tune would fail to deprive US. As often
happens at sea, and indeed elsewhere for
that matter, we had no authorities acces-
sible, but upon settling down once more in
Sydney ! referred to Montague, who ex-
plates with much ingenious wit upon this
very subject. After pointing out that
there have been many nations situated in
cold climates who have had no knowledge
of clothing, he continues: And besides,
our most tender parts are always exposed
to the air, as the eyes, nose, mouth and
ears; and our country fellows, like our an
cestOrs, 60 with their breasts open. Had
we been born with a necessity upon US of
wearing petticoats and breeches, there is
no doubt but Nature would have fortified
those parts she intended should be exposed
to the fury of the seasons with a thicker
skin, as she has done the fingers ends and
the sOles of the feet And why should
this seem hard to believe? IObserve much
greater distance between my mode of
dress" Ode Montague was writing this
about the year 1873, and the translation
from the French here quoted is by VIM.
Hazlitt) land that of one Of our country
peasants than betwixt this and man that
has no other covering but his skin. How
many men, especially in Turkey, go naked
merely upon account of devotion? Some
body, forget who, asked beggar whom
he saw in his shirt in the depth of winter
as brisk and frolicsOme as he who goes
mutfled up to the ears in furs how he was
able to endure to go so? Sir said the
fellow. you go with your face bare; l am /
all face "
Without following Montague any fur
ther, because to do so when he begins tell !
ing anecdotes would be to go to the furthest |
ends of the earth with Herodotus, and to
take notice of every battle fought between
the Persians and Egyptians, the Romans
and the Goths, in which clothing or the
want of it had concern, we may notice that
our blue-jackets of to-day wear nought
but trousers and shirt and this last so
open that both throat and chest are ex-
posed TO the cruelty of every storm that
blows. Yet these men do not suffer more
rom diseases of the lungs on that account,
as I am assured by an eminent physician,
and their tenure of life is as secure as our
)wn. In the same way, these Samoans do
lot suffer by their exposure to the wind
indeed, their physique is exceptionally
inc. They are tall, handsome, we'll
ormed people, with fine eyes and white
eeth. The men are broadAhouldered, the
women are graceful; and the latter will be
onsidered especially pleasing by those
tho, like the Fairy Queen in " Iolanthe -
=" see objection to stoutness-in mod
ration" These merry creatures bartered
heir shells, necklaces of crimson berries,
ga even the flowers in their hair for coin
f the realm. We verify believe that they
would have parted with their maros and
aus for consideration, and we fear we
hould have had to do all the blushing for
9th parties to the transaction After an